My Journey..

I distinctly remember attending first political rally when I was just 9 years old.. Rajiv Gandhi had come near my residence in Ghatkopar East in 1990.. We kids played in building compound and used to mindlessly chant the then most popular slogan "gali gali me shor hai, Rajiv Gandhi chor hai".. Never knew what it meant politically, but kids used to chant and laugh a lot.. So when I came to know the same shor-chor Rajiv Gandhi was to come, I forced my dad to take me to the evening event.. Seeing every thing on stage in white, all political leaders in white, I thought I had come to a prayer meeting on someones' death..

Then came the Ayodhya Movement.. The Ram Janmabhumi got librated after almost 400 years.. I got engrossed with DD News back then.. It was the only news channel.. And used to see photographs in Gujarati News Paper we used to get.. I got introduced to BJP as a political party through that event..

In my 5th standard class at DJ Doshi Gurukul School, my class teacher Mrs. Purohit gave us an exercise.. To write and read out in class 5 headlines from any english news paper.. In few days I realised most bought Times of India and read headlines from first page.. I started going through the inside pages.. Trying to be different.. I used to note down more than 20 headlines to avoid being not repeated in class.. I tried different news papers.. The bug of curiosity had already bitten me hard..

My curiosity knew no bounds when I heard that a BJP rally is going to happen in lane next to my home.. My family was scared to let me go.. Too many people.. Strangers.. But I escaped and attended..

It was Lal Krishna Advani.. Oh that moment.. I have no doubt till date and will never have one.. He was the Iron Man of India.. The Sardar after Sardar Patel.. Such clarity of thought.. Such straight forward approach.. Speech touching directly your heart and mind.. You just can't forget his presence ever.. Those were my early teen days..

Then came Atal Bihari Vajpayee.. My teenage progressed I was liberated of my uniform.. College days those were.. And Atalji shaped my patriotism.. Nuclear tests, Kargil and his piercing influencing speeches at public rallies and in parliament..

My 80s Mumbai city generation never discussed politics in college campus.. And there I was.. Least interested in Cricket and Films.. No girlfriends.. No flirting.. Full of political details and trivia..

There was no looking back.. Lal Krishna Advani, Atal Bihari Vajpayee, Murli Manohar Joshi, Khushabhau Thakre, Madan Lal Khurana, Pramod Mahajan, Venkhiya Naidu, Rajnath Singh, Rajju Bhaiyya, K S Sudarshan, Mohan Bhagwat, Uma Bharti, Sushma Swaraj, Bhairav Singh Sekhawat, Jashwant Singh, Arun Shouri, George Fernandes, Ram Naik, Dr. APJ Abdul Kalam, K Kasturirangan R Chidambaram... and so many more.. All strong nationalist highly patriotic India-supremacist leaders.. I had privilege to hear them live..

It is said you are sum total of your experiences.. I thank BJP today to have played a very important role in shaping my life and helping me in part to discover myself.. 

Best of all - Narendra Modi happened in my life.. BJP and Narendra Modi gave me friends in last 2 years.. Highly patriotic people who can go to any extent for nation.. India is always FIRST.. I feel obliged to thank and express my gratitude..

I have no idea why I am sharing this.. It was a very emotional day today for me.. Seeing Lal Krishna Advani and Narendra Modi today at Central Hall of Parliament.. Have never cried in my life.. But today I was emotional..

Sabudana or Sago is Vegetarian

There is a post running on since last couple of months making wild claim that Sabudana or Saboodana or Sago is non-vegetarian.

This is what is claimed:
 
"SABUDANA
VEG / NON-VEG ??
Answer in comments
MUST READ IT FIRST
PROCESS OF MAKING YOUR FAVORITE sabudana
Saboodana (साबूदाना )is popular food eaten during fasting and religious events ... Well, read the attached story and then decide yourself!!
Is Saboodana A Non-Vegetarian Or Vegetarian Food ?
Think about it..............
In Tamil Nadu, India,in Salem area on the road from Salem to Coimbatore there are many saboodana factories.
We start getting terribly bad smell when we were about 2 kms away from the factories.
Saboodana is made by root like sweet potato. Kerala has this root each weighing about 6kgs. Factory owners buy these roots in bulk during season, make it to pulp and put it in pits of about 40ft x 25ft.
Pits are in open ground and the pulp is allowed to rot for several months. Thousands of tons of roots rot in pits.
There are huge electricbulbs throughout the night where millions of insects fall in the pits.
While pulp is rotting, water is added everyday due to which 2" long white color eel is automatically born
like pests are born automatically in gutter. The walls of pits are covered
by millions ofeels and factory owners with the help of machine crush the pulp with the eels which also become paste.
This action is repeated many times during 5-6 months.
The pulp is thus ready as roots and millions & millions of pests and insects crushed and pasted together. This paste is then passed through round mesh and made into small balls and then polished. This is saboodana.
Now I know why many people don't eat Saboodana treating this asnon-vegetarian. If you find it appropriate and if you think after reading this one cannot relish Saboodana, pass on to those whom you want to save from this tasty food.
spread it to max u can....."

The above message has been circulating since last couple of months and being widely shared instantly without verifying facts.

First things first..This is beyond ridiculous and utterly idiotic report. In the manner described, sabudana or sago can never be made, scientifically it will automatically get decomposed. IT IS SCIENTIFICALLY IMPOSSIBLE to make sabudana in manner described. No one on this planet can make it that way. Its total bullshit. One may have his/her personal or religious preference, but the original author of this nonsense writeup / rumour on sabudana reflects disgust and how ill-informed the person is about the manufacture process.

This is how it is made:
Saboodana is made from raw tapioca roots (commonly known as shakkarkand), an underground potato like variety. These tapioca roots (shakkarkand) are crushed in a tank and its milk/juice is extracted and stored for few days which changes its nature and turns into light paste... It is then poured into machine or hand sheets or big steel sheets with holes to produce white granules from the paste. Thus the white granules or small white balls are formed, which are dried and these dried granules/balls are called as saboodana.

The actual manufacturing process video - start to end:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hM0G6b0I7TI

Ofcourse, the video is dated. The manufacturing of saboodana, which has a very large market in India, has advanced technologically reducing human intervention by mechanising and increasing production. 

Such false claim could be a prank on people who follow vegetarianism or a sinister design to disrupt the regional-geographical industry. All speculation it is though.

But what is certain is that such idiotic claims remain unverified and instantly shared.